Title: Beginning PHP5 Author(s): Dan Squier, David Mercer, Allan Kent et al. Pages: 888 Publisher: Wrox Publication date: 2004 Language: English Format: CHM ISBN-10: 0764557831 ISBN-13: Description: Beginning PHP5 is a complete tutorial in PHP5's language features and functionality, beginning with the basics and building up to the design and construction of complex data-driven Web sites. Fully functioning applications are developed through the course of the book. Other features of the book include installation guide and troubleshooting tips, introduction to relational databases, practical working examples and applications, and a detailed language reference.
Here are the new topics in this edition:
* OOP
* PEAR
* GTK
* MSI
* CLI
* SQLite
* Error handling with try/catch
Reviews
Summary: Helpful for the beginner, but watch out for typos
Rating: 3
I'm new to PHP (with some experience in HTML and C++) and I found this a good ground-floor introduction to the basics of the language. It also walks you through setting up your own web server (which I had found intimidating, but this book made it fairly easy).
That said, there are a LOT of typos, both in the text and the code. For that reason, I would not recommend buying this book at full price (I got it for free at the library).
Readers should take everything with a grain of salt and also should consult the publisher's "erratum" page before reading: http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/productCd-0764557831,descCd-view_errata.html
And a memo to the authors: next time, use spell check!
Summary: This book was not proofread!!!
Rating: 2
I'm a recent Comp Sci grad from University of Maryland, so I'm pretty well versed in lots of programming languages. I needed to learn PHP for an employer and I saw this book in borders. Out of all the books there, I liked this one the best because of the learning flow, and it had exercises for you to do on your own - something most php books don't have.
However, the good news ends right about there. I am just starting the 3rd chapter and I am CONVINCED THAT THERE IS NO WAY this book could have gone thru an editor. It seriously seems like it was just written and printed! This book gets 2 stars because:
1) Every code example I've done so far (about 4 in the 2nd chapter, WOULD NOT RUN, even though I copied and pasted straight from the book. I actually had to debug the book!!! The bugs were simple things too, like missing semicolons or concat (.) symbols. If I weren't already used to debugging, then I would've pulled my hair out trying to find out what's wrong.
2) The solutions to the questions at the end of the 2nd chapter use programming concepts that they didn't introduce yet! A forloop is used in the solution, but loops aren't covered until chapter 4! When I went back to check my answer I thought to myself, 'Are you kidding me?!'
Now, I usually don't write reviews on amazon, but I had to write one for this book. There must be MUCH BETTER books for php than this one. If you're paying this much money for something, you shouldn't have to settle for these kinds of problems. Do yourself a favor and buy ANY other book and make up your own test questions to solve. Thank God my employer paid for this and I didnt blow money on a book that wasn't edited at all.
Summary: Sloppy
Rating: 1
I gave up on this book due to the abundance of coding errors. Each time there was a mistake in their code, it took me quite a lot of time to figure out what the error was and fix it - time I don't have, when trying to learn something new.
Wrox needs to be tougher with its authors and technical reviewers. Instead of accepting that errors are just part of the publishing experience, they should be trying to inculcate a culture of meticulousness and excellence. Until then, people like me will drop their books flat.
Title: Beginning PHP5